


A Thousand Souls to Offer

by stalecheeto300



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, F/M, Fantasy, Inspired by Howl's Moving Castle, Inspired by Studio Ghibli, Slow Romance, Witch!Heroine, Wizard!Minseok, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:54:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29422641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stalecheeto300/pseuds/stalecheeto300
Summary: Xiumin is the last wizard in the continent, on his travels to retrieve a star, he encounters a woman on the run who is keeping a big secret.
Relationships: Kim Minseok | Xiumin/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 1





	A Thousand Souls to Offer

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle

Minseok has lived multiple lives, more than he can count. He can’t remember his first life very well, vague, blurry images of blue and green hues play in his mind. There’s a shade of brown so dark, anyone can confuse it with black. He’s not sure if it’s hair or a cloak, but the image fills him with a lot of sadness.

He’s not too sure when he became wizard, during his previous lives he yearned to be someone different, away from the magic and the many favors Kings and Queens asked of him. He tried to be a painter, a singer, a teacher, a writer, more careers than he can count on all ten fingers but all his hands could dare to do is create magic.

In this life, he is at peace with his calling. He doesn’t mind the power and the tales of his past lives, he rather enjoys the attention. Although, he does loathe the constant barging of strangers into his home, hoping to catch a glimpse of the ancient wizard.

“Great wizard!” Speak of the devil. “I need your help.” A young man with skin the color of redwood, eyes the color of gold, and curly, black hair down to his shoulder blades runs to Minseok. He’s out of breath, sweat pouring down his forehead; there’s a desperate look on his face, a small pouch in his hands.

Minseok gives it a dubious look. “I’m sorry, you’ve caught in a bad moment. I am on my way out.”

“Sir, please.” The young man stands before him, hands stretched out. “It’s not for a selfish reason, my father is in trouble, he’s been ill for days now and no doctor’s medicine can cure him. Please, we need assistance. I’ve brought currency.” He thrusts his hand forward, coins jingling inside. “It’s not much, but it’s what we have to offer.”

He’s never cared much about gold or silver, especially when it comes from the working class. It doesn’t feel right to take when they are saving down to their pennies. “I don’t want your money,” he says, pushing the pouch back toward him. “Follow me and be quick, I have places to be.”

Pacing quickly towards his home, he looks through the window to see the young boy peeking out. His eyes widen and soon enough, he vanishes from view.

Placing a hand on the door handle, Minseok hears a click from the inside and turns to look at the young man behind him. “Stay at the foot of the stairs.” Pushing the door open, he is greeted by the young boy in disguise, hiding his youth and beauty.

“Jongin.” The wizard ascends the stairs, motioning towards the kindle. “Stoke the fire, we have a customer.” He turns to look back down at the young man. “What’s your name?”

“Domano, sir.”

“Where do you hail from?”

“East of Howl City. It’s a small town inside the mountains, not very known.”

“Into the mountains? That’s quite strange, is it the Foggy region?” Minseok prepares a drink, cutting and squeezing oranges and lemons. He steps away from the Domano’s view, reaching inside an unassuming drawer and pulling out ice.

Domano watches in curiosity, his eyes never leaving Minseok’s hands. “Yes, my town is just below the fog. Hidden away from view, but also safe that we do not lose our own.”

“I see.” The sound of ice clinking echoes and Minseok returns to the stairs and hands Domano the drink. The young man looks at it confused. “It’s for you. You’ve walked a long way and I know there’s not a lot of travelers that pass by my home, at least none that do not wish to break into my home. Now tell me about your father’s illness.”

The young man gives a thanks and takes a quick sip. “The town of Idle is surrounded by many dangerous creatures, one of them is the red horned frog that can be found near the edge of the fog. It’s poisonous but it doesn’t kill the person immediately, instead the poison makes them fall into a deep sleep and the person eventually withers away. There’s no medicinal cure for it, but you must know a way to wake him.”

There’s hope in his eyes and Minseok’s mind tries to remember everything he knows about Foggy Alps. He realizes he doesn’t know a lot, as Domano had mentioned, his town isn’t known very well and for Minseok and his many past lives, this was the first he’s heard of such a place and such an animal. Not many people dared to walk into the Foggy Alps, just like they shied from entering Lullaby Forest. However, there could be something in the library.

Being the last wizard in the continent could be a pain in the ass, but it also had a couple of perks and that was the inevitable source of information that countries gave him in order to gain his favor. Surely one of them would have the solution.

“Jongin,” he speaks.

The boy returns, a waddle in his step as he carries a heavy looking red, leather book. He doesn’t speak, simply places the book on the table with a heavy ‘thud’ and turns to fuzz around the place, grabbing random items from the kitchen.

Minseok ascends the steps one more time and offers a seat to Domano. The young man is surprised to see a robin blue chair placed behind him. “Let’s see,” the wizard ponders, the book opens and pages flip through until it stops at the drawing of a strange looking frog. It’s quite ugly, with eyes bigger than its head and spikes taking all of the space on its back. “Would this be the culprit?” He shows the book to the young man and he immediately nods. “Strange little thing,” he hums as he skims over the items needed.

“Oh?” There’s a peculiar ingredient.

“Is something the matter?” Domano’s face fills with worry, leaning forward on the chair.

“I don’t suppose you’re afraid of blood?”

Inside the finer streets of Howl City, a young witch with a secret in her hands keeps her hood covering her face and her pace near a jog. She maneuvers her way expertly through the throng of people, avoiding bumping into anyone. If the stone were to fall out of her hands, she would be accused of being a thief. Which she was, but for a good reason.

Leaving the uppity streets of Howl wouldn’t be so hard, she had studied the city for so long, she knew which water channel led to Willow Sea and which led to dead ends. She just needed to make it to the Nook, where she would meet with her informant and get her hands on the map for Lullaby Forest.

Working in the black market has its perks, but everyone knows what you are up to or at least creates an idea. Rose has done her best to keep her little plot with loose ends, creating a web of lies and keeping the underworld in a guessing game. She does admit, it has gotten her to meet some quite scary, important people, but it’s not what she is looking for and that last thing she needs is to be on people’s line of sight.

However, stealing this particular item was a conscious choice. When she first heard the scarlet stone was in the hands of a greedy duke, she hatched a plan to remove it from his hands and bury it away deep in the forest no one dared to tread. It’s a perfect plan really.

With wizards and witches basically extinct in this continent, almost all knowledge of how to pass through trivial land has disappeared or been destroyed. Of course, the Wizard of Old still lives and people know he carries an endless supply of knowledge, but she is a witch who prefers to keep her magic a secret. She has no interest to fight in wars the blue blood put themselves in.

Turning to a street with stairs, she descends. Her hood still covers the majority of her face and her hands are close to her body. The Nook is on a lower part of town and there is where she has to be.


End file.
